Diagonally reinforced hollow building block



Dec. 24, 1968 J. SPARLING DIAGONALLY REINFORCED HOLLOW BUILDING BLOCK 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 9, 1967 NTOR.

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DIAGONALLY REINFORCED HOLLOW BUILDING BLOCK Filed Jan. 9, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 B 74\;; E E 74 I "I I g I 74 INVENTOR.

Dec. 24, 1968 J. SPARLING 3,417,533

DIAGONALLY REINFORCED HOLLOW BUILDING BLOCK Filed Jan. 9, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 r: 82 r \.J .I J D i 7 1 75 i A I 73 72 INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,417,533 DIAGONALLY REINFORCED HOLLOW BUILDING BLOCK Jack Spar-ling, Falls Village, Conn. 06031 Filed Jan. 9, 1967, Ser. No. 607,955 3 Claims. (Cl. 52-589) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure describes a hollow building block of rectangular or square shape having relatively strong edge structures on each of the twelve edges, which extend the full length and width of the edges and are of rectangular or square cross-section. Interiorly, the block consists of diagonally extending members, joining at the center and integrally molded with the block, which may be of cement.

Cross-references to related applications There are no related applications to which cross-reference is to be made.

Background of the invention Field of the invention.The present invention relates to the field of constructional or building blocks which are used in building houses, industrial structures, walls, supports, roadways and the like.

Description of the prior art.The prior art consists of various types of solid blocks or cinder blocks. Prior art patents, such as 2,291,205 to Grant M. Simon and 2,238, 355 to James B. Whitenack discloses types of wall building units which, however, are heavy and do not have the desired high strength ratio per unit weight and which are not axially balanced.

Brief summary or general statement of invention It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a hollow, strong, durable, balanced open building block construction which may be readily manufactured at low cost and which may be readily assembled to form wall structures, columns, separators, fences, elevated supports and other constructional elements with a minimum of labor and with or without the addition of cementitious materials.

Another object is to provide a novel building block construction which is to be made of metal, plastic wood or other materials, and which may be readily handled and shipped and assembled to form a desired structure with a minimum of labor and with a minimum weight per unit strength in the resultant wall, column or other supporting structure that is formed.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most satisfactory according to one embodiment of the present invention to form the block of generally square cubicle or rectangular shape with relatively heavy rectangular or square cross-section arms joined together at each of the corners to form a complete enclosure. The corner elements of the block should not occupy more than 35% of the total volume of the block and desirably should be between and of the total volume of the block and the sides of the block should be open with their open space being at least equal to the area of the encompassing edge members.

Interiorly of the block the diagonally opposite corners are joined by diagonal struts which meet at the direct center of the block and in the preferred construction, these struts and the twelve corner members are all integrally joined together. The block may be made by Casting, cutting a solid to form the hollow interior structure, by ceramic firing, or it may be made of cement, compressed cinders, aluminum, magnesium, steel, acrylic resins, styrene, urea formaldehyde and other suitable strong materials which can stand weathering and corrosive forces.

The blocks may be from five inches to a foot or longer on each side and the interior open space should be greater than the arms and struts by a factor of 1.2 to 1 up to 3 to l. The side openings may have a ratio to the area of the corner elements by l to 1 or from to 1 up to 2 to 1.

The important feature is that the block should be balanced and should rotate freely on any axis passing through the center and through the middle point of any side face as well as diagonally opposite through opposite corners.

In a preferred form of the invention the opposite sides of the block may be recessed and cooperating faces may be keyed to fit into said recess with adjustment of the weights of the side so that it will not change the balance of the block. Where recesses and keys are utilized the keying and recessing may vary progressively from face to face.

Although the blocks may be keyed together to form a wall, column or other structure they may also be cemented together.

The cross-sectional area of the internal struts should desirably be between .3 to .6 of the cross-sectional area of the corner beams to give the most desirable balanced construction.

Brief description of the drawings With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters deno-te corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIGURE 1 is a corner perspective view of a building block according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a corner perspective view similar to FIG. 1 with the adjacent corner of the block broken away to more clearly show the interior construction.

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view upon an enlarged scale through one side of the block, showing the manner of providing keys and recesses therein.

FIG. 4 is an outside elevational view of one of the sides of the block of FIG. 3, showing the position of the keys and recesses.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary showing of how the blocks may be mounted together to form a column or wall structure with a layer of adhesive or cement therebetween.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of an alternative form of block.

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view upon the line 7--7 of FIG. 6.

Description 0] the preferred embodiments Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a block A having the exterior frame structure 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 and an interior diagonal strut structure 30, 31 and 32.

Normally there will be four diagonal struts 30, 31 and 32 integrally joined together at the center point of the 3 block indicated at 40 while the ends of the struts and the exterior frame are integrally joined together at the interior corners 50, 51, 52 and 53. Generally, there will be nine interior junction points similar to 40 and 50 Where the various members of the block will be integrally joined together.

The cross-sectional area of the diagonal struts 30 to 32 should be from A; to 2 that of the cross-sectional area of the external frame members 10 to 20 and the volumetric content of the diagonal strut members 30 to 32 should be to & of the volumetric content of the exterior frame members to 20.

The interior open areas, including the face openings 60, 61, 62, 63 and 64 should be greater than and desirably should be 1% to 4 times the volumetric content of the frame structures 10 to and the strut structures to 32.

Desirably with metal, such as steel or aluminum, the interior volumetric content which is open may increase to 3 to 10 times the volumetric content of the frame elements 10 to 20 and the struts 30 to 32. However, with plastic or cinder block the volumetric content of the interior should be reduced to the range of 1 to 3 times the volumetric content of the frame structure 10 to 28 and the strut structure 30 to 32. Also, with aluminum or steel the cross-sectional area of the structure 30 to 32 should be from A to the cross-sectional area of the frame structure 10 to 20 whereas with plastic or cinder block the cross-sectional area of the frame structure 10 to 20 should vary from 2 to 3 times the crosssectional area of the internal diagonal strut structures 30 to 32.

The block of FIGS. 1 and .2 may be placed in a wall structure by placing an adhesive or cement between the contacting faces.

In the arrangement of FIGS. 3 and 4 the blocks are provided with keys which project on one side of a block and fit into recesses 'on the other side of an adjacent block.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 there is shown a block 13 having the outside frame member 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, '70 and 71 with the interior diagonal strut siructure 72 having a central junction point 73.

The faces alternately may be provided with recesses 74 on all four sides thereof and projections 75 on all four adjacent sides thereof. In forming the projections or recesses it is desired that the same amount of material be left on each side of the various axes so that the balance of the block will not be affected. When these elements are keyed together, as indicated in FIG. 5, a cementitious or adhesive layer may be employed to hold the blocks together in addition to keying the blocks together, as indicated at 81 and 82.

A column or wall may be conveniently built up in the manner as shown in FIG. 5 with or without the cementitious material 80. The blocks B may be of such large size as to subject themselves to be handled by machinery or by special weight lifting devices or they may be so small as to be readily handled manually.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 is shown an alternative where the blocks C may be keyed together by small round projections and recesses 91 on each face with the face only having circular windows inside an exterior frame 93. The side walls then will have an extension from the exterior frame structure 93 so as to form a circular opening at 92. This provides a better, less transparent wall structure and is particularly designed for patios or private encloall) sures, along roads, highways and the same, as a shield against dirt, dust, vision and sound.

It is thus apparent that the present applicant has provided a novel building block construction, generally applicable to various types of construction materials such as steel, aluminum, cinder block, cement, plastic and the like which may be broadly utilized in forming partitions and interior separations, as well as exterior walls and columns, fences, separators and the like, and which is designed to permit a very strong support to be readily constructed with a minimum of manual labor and most economical use of materials and with a great reduction in weight and greatly increased ease in handling.

The balanced construction block of the present invention, because of its balanced axial construction both diagonally and transversely, will give a most effective unit construction which may be widely used in many different types of constructions, both interior and exterior, and it will be particularly effective in screening against entry of sound and will also protect against access from highways, while permitting movement of air where the structure is uncovered.

While there has been herein described a preferred form of the invention, it should be understood that the same may be altered in details and in relative arrangement of parts within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A balanced hollow openwork six-face structural integrally molded cement block construction of rectangular shape having an exterior frame with twelve outside heavy solid elongated edge elements forming six flat outside faces, each edge element being of identical rectangular cross-section, said edge elements extending along each edge and being integrally joined at the corners and an interior diagonal strut structure integrally joined at the central interior point of the block construction, said structure consisting of four solid light elongated elements of smaller cross-section than the side elements, extending obliquely inwardly from each internal corner where the edge elements are integrally joined and to which edge elements the solid light elongated elements at said internal corners are integrally joined.

2. The block construction of claim 1, said strut structure having four elements which are joined at the corners and interior side faces of the elongated elements opposite the exterior corners and which extend in their junction about one-half Way out toward the interior faces 'of the construction.

3. The block construction of claim 1, the alternate faces of said construction having projecting and recessed elements so that they may be keyed together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,891,397 6/1959 Hauer 52607 X 3,069,805 12/1962 Burrows 4626 X FOREIGN PATENTS 561,770 1957 Belgium. 558,187 1957 Italy.

JOHN E. MURTAGH, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

